In what the President of the Namibian Chess Federation, Mr G. Horsthemke called "a good mix of nations", the winner of last year’s Open Chess tournament, Peter Gallert, had to succumb to a bouquet of very competitive players. Observers agreed that the standard of chess has improved a lot over the last decade - thanks to the sponsorship of Windhoek Optics and to many youngsters who actually started "studying" the game.There may have been only 30 players who opted to stay in Windhoek over the long weekend and took part in this event, but their calibre was not to be underestimated. - Lyndon Bouah from Cape Town, Saad Rashwan from Egypt orVladimir Chichmarow from Russia - or could it perhaps be a Namibian who would win this prestigious tournament? Well: Lyndon Bouah walked away with the small trophy and the big prize money (N$ 2500) after gaining 204 points. The 2nd to 4th places were shared by Charles Eichab, Werner Tjipueja and Saad Rashwan - all on 176 points (and receiving N$ 750 each), and chess guru Helmuth Leicher managed 5th place with 166 points (bagging N$ 300). Six players had to share the rest of the prize money, all ending on 152 points: Sanders Oberholzer,Toivo Nangula, Max Nitzborn, Klaus Roerkohl, Jeffrey Seibeb and Frank Shiimi.

In the Junior category, the winners were: 1. Allison Kaureraea (148 points, N$ 200), 2. Matandi Mukwena (136 points, N$ 100) and 3. Ahmed Ismail from Tsumeb (124 points, N$ 50).

Overall it was a fabulous tournament, and players went home with a new spirit: to make chess what it should be in Namibia. Thank you, Mr Bouah for coming to Windhoek. And thank you, Helmuth Leicher for all your input as Tournament Director and even manning the refreshments-bar!